Prince of Persia is the Highest-Grossing Video Game Movie Ever

The video game movie Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time may not make many best of 2010 lists, but the film can file at least one achievement away: it’s banked the most money of any video game movie.

The folks over at Film Junk have pointed out something that may be a bit surprising: Prince of Persia is now the highest grossing movie that’s based on a video game. Although domestically it’s only racked up $82 million in just under four weeks, the numbers have more than made up for that internationally with a solid $213 million.

That’s a total of $295 million worldwide so far, and that number will only rise since the movie is still playing in theaters. It’s nowhere near breaking any all-time box office records (Avatar is still quite safe!), but as far as video game movies go it’s the king of the box office… for now.

To compare, here’s a list of the top 5 highest-grossing theatrically released video game movies (both live-action and animation), including Prince of Persia:

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Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time – $295 million (worldwide)

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – $274 million (worldwide)

Pokemon: The First Movie – $163 million (worldwide)

Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life – $156 million (worldwide)

Resident Evil: Extinction – $147 million (worldwide)

As you can see, it’s not a huge victory for Prince of Persia but a victory nonetheless (although who’s betting Resident Evil: Afterlife – with its 3D ticket prices – will steal the crown?) . Is it a coincidence that one of the few video game movies that doesn’t suck is the one to make the most money? Perhaps, but it’s at least a pleasing indication that the cream still rises to the top at least some of the time. But sadly not as much as it should…

What do you think of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time becoming the highest-grossing video game movie of all time? Is it deserving? Do you think it will hold the title for long?